Saturday, April 09, 2011

Pattern you will never tire of!

Well the Shetland Triangle is the stuff of legends for a very good reason: it just WORKS, you know? It is supremely wearable and quite easily memorized. You always know exactly where you are at all times and it is done at precisely the moment you are about to be completely over it. WIN WIN WIN DING DING DING.

Yarn: Rowan Kid Classic in color #847. I have a lot to say about this yarn, so don't go anywhere.

Needles: Size 6

Mods: Insert NONE here

Oh Rowan Kid Classic...you are the perfect combination of 70% wool, 26% mohair and 4% nylon! You might know that I'm not a huge mohair fan as I feel it frequently is somehow in my mouth when I knit with it, to the point where I have phantom mohair mouth when I'm knitting with it. However the clever chemists at Rowan have figured out the perfect formula for mohair: keep it under 26%! Yes, at that percentage it is kept in its place (out of your mouth) because the wool is keeping it in check. And that 4% nylon seriously puts the whole operation into awesome overdrive and maybe keeps the mohair trapped somehow? Such a science-y analysis, I know. And this red is the definition of cherry red, which is one of my favorite reds. I love this yarn and see no reason to not keep hoarding it.

Shawls are really quite a gas to make and especially to give away. I made this for my friend Meredith's birthday, and being the mohair lover and hand made enthusiast that she is, she was very happy with it. I hope to see her wearing at work someday as for a knitter random, chance sightings as you well know are the very best!

Do you like my Minnesota English in the title? Nice dangling preposition, I know. I'm sure I'll be hearing about it from my mom who is a perpetual state of aghastness at the state of my locution. Eh! At least I'm not writing 'Do you wanna come with'. That REALLY sets her off...

I enjoy stories of Winston Churchill and Lady Astor. They hated each other - Lady Astor thinking Churchill too common for her taste. Apparently she stood in Parliament one day to say that Churchill couldn't even speak the proper English because he often ended his sentences with a preposition. Churchill retaliated with "Madame, that is exactly the kind of nonsense with up I shall not put." Well said!

"do you wanna come with".. it sounds like a bad translation from Danish... LOL.. Always had a feeling it was bad English to end with a proposition, but didnt know if it was true.. thanks for the enlightment...

That is a beautiful shawl, in my queue, and haven't started it yet. I feel the same way about mohair -- just not one of my favorite fiberts although I should copy a feel of Rowan Kid Classic. It sure doesn't have that fuzzy halo in your pics.

About your language comment, "do you want to come with?" - instead of "...come with *me* " - I thought that was a Jewish expression, maybe straight from German...? At least, everyone in the mostly Jewish office I used to work in used it...what's your take on that?

Because I have nothing else to do (*cough* writing a paper *cough*), I've been all over Ravelry and found myself wistfully looking at Shetland Triangle patterns (long ago stashed for with some yummy Sundara Silky Aran Merino) and wondering if I oughta give it a go (in an effort to knit the stash). Thought I'd check and see which of my friendies had knit it, and there you were, raving about the pattern! I'm sold!